Letters to the Editor

The replies to Norman Geisler's "A Scientific Basis for
Creation: The Principle of Uniformity" (Issue XIII) by Frederick Edwords and
William Thwaites were long overdue. Geisler is ubiquitous as a defender of
creationism; he often writes and speaks in public forums in defense of
creationist legislation and he was a witness for the state at the Arkansas
"Scopes II" trial. Yet he has been largely overlooked by scientists responding
to "scientific" creationism.

As ably demonstrated by Edwords, Geisler's
argument from the "principle of uniformity" is self-contradictory. Nevertheless,
Geisler uses this argument as a two-edged sword to support creationism and to
invalidate evolution. The uniformity principle argument permeates the
theologian's advocacy of creationism and anti-evolutionism and it tells against
him throughout.

For instance, on a program entitled "The Scientific
Approach to Creation," from Geisler's radio series, Quest for Truth, the
theologian offers the uniformity principle as he relates it to the origin of
life and biogenesis. Geisler argues in this fashion: Louis Pasteur proved
by experimentation that life does not arise from non-life. This fact is
confirmed by common observation; we presently do not see life arising from
non-life. In the present we see life always arising from life. If the present is
the key to the past, Geisler argues, then "scientific reasoning leads us to
conclude that in the past life did not arise except from a living
Creator."

Geisler's argument is flawed throughout. It is true that Pasteur
dealt a fatal blow to "spontaneous generation," but what does this have to do
with creationism or evolution? Pasteur disproved the notion, derived from common
observation, that complex organisms such as flies and maggots apparently arise
from putrefying matter. This experimental demonstration by Pasteur really has
nothing to do with the idea that life arose from non-life by a propitious series
of small, incremental steps via chemical evolution. Pasteur's experiments cannot
logically be used against an evolutionary scenario and in fact they give
credence to evolution (if life arose naturally, it must have been by
evolutionary mechanisms and not spontaneously). Since scientists
are not arguing for the sudden
arrival of complex organisms by spontaneous generation, Geisler is merely
dropping a red-herring when he uses Pasteur to refute a natural origin of
life.

- page 45 -

Geisler's "scientific reasoning" concerning biogenesis is downright
curious. Life always arises from life. The Creator is living;
ergo, the Creator gave rise to life. This argument is a semantic trick that
trades on the ambiguities of the words "life" (i.e., the organic) and "living"
(i.e., in the context of the supernatural). This semantic game
is exposed if we merely restate biogenesis as follows: (in the present)
organisms always arise from organisms. Geisler is then forced to argue:
organisms always arise from organisms; the Creator is living; therefore the
Creator gave rise to organisms. His argument does not retain its logical
coherence unless he acknowledges that the "living" Creator is an organism. If he
does not, then his argument is a logical non sequitur (as well as
empirically bankrupt) and is nothing more than a not-so-crafty play on
words.

Geisler's use here of the uniformity principle is strangely naive
and lacking in perception. He seems to believe that the principle of uniformity
entails nothing more than common observation extrapolated to explain the past.
Thus, if life does not arise from non-life, before our very eyes, it never has.
However, the principle is broader than Geisler acknowledges. Its
primary assumption is that physical and chemical laws observed today are
invariant throughout time and do not allow true anomalies. Most scientists who
have studied the issue of the origin of life believe that even though the early
earth's composition was similar to the present, the combinations of the elements
were sufficiently different. This negates Geisler's unstated yet crucial premise
that early and contemporary conditions must be identical. We know from
experimental evidence that certain chemical processes relevant to the origin of
life are possible given certain conditions that are equally possible; processes
and conditions that are not outside invariant natural law (and therefore do not
violate the principle of uniformity).

It is Geisler, not the evolutionist,
who is abrogating the principle of uniformity as he introduces supernatural
creation that is by definition outside the boundaries of invariant law. The
theologian pleads for the uniformity principle and then violates it, all in the
same argument!

Jerry Wayne Borchardt

- page 46 -

Last year I took a course in
geophysics; during the class we read about particle bombardment effects on
meteorites, on the lunar surface, and on lunar rocks. Being a former
creationist, I wondered how one could explain the vast erosion
that had taken place on the
meteorites (as seen in the particle track densities—and this even after much
surface has been burned off in atmospheric entry), on the lunar surface, and
even on the rocks buried deep in the regolith in a time span of only several
thousand years.

The only explanation (other than the "Adam's navel"
argument) is that the erosion rate, the number of particles impacting over time,
was higher in the past by a factor of about 0.75 million. That's an awful lot.
As Frank Awbrey described it in Issue XIII, this would indeed be a "monumental
cosmic sandblaster." But, anyway, it's a perfectly natural explanation.
So, we could be scientific, set it up as a hypothesis, and attempt to test
it.

But creationists do not do this, and this is why they are not
scientific. Any idea, whether it can be tested or not, is acceptable as long as
it supports the three central ideas of creationism: the recentness of the
creation, the divine creation and thus non-evolutionary ancestry of humans, and
the recent worldwide flood. (And, actually, it is the second idea listed here
that creationists are really concerned about.) After all, a creationist (or any
fundamentalist) is not looking for useful explanations of what we see in the
world around us. The creationist is interested in the preservation of her or his
faith in the infallibility of the Bible. Everything else is secondary. To say
the Bible is incorrect in any way whatsoever is blasphemy and can put one
in danger of not making it to heaven (and you know what that
means!).

"What? You have found something that is inexplicable according to
the Bible. No way. Somehow, some way, God has done it. Remember, God's ways are
beyond mere human understanding. If we must resort to miracles (non-testable
events) to reconcile what we see in nature with what the Bible says, then so be
it. We cannot trust our senses, or even our minds, but we must put our faith in
the Bible to be pleasing to God."

How droll! But this attitude is taken
seriously by millions of people. Hopefully, we can continue to protect ourselves
from such in the future. Journals such as yours are helpful. And thanks to Frank
Awbrey for his instructive article.

Todd Greene

Thank you for your
devotion to the integrity of science, and thank you especially for your devotion
to pure undistorted Biblical teaching. I really appreciated the last two issues!
As a committed Christian, I am deeply worried about the bad name that is being
brought upon Jesus and His message by creationist activities. It is tremendously
comforting to know that Christianity is not being identified with creationism
everywhere yet.

- page 47 -

Though Creation/Evolution is a scientific periodical, I
would strongly recommend that
you pursue further the incompatibility of creationism with proper biblical
exegesis in future issues. I have many creationist friends in my Bible study and
church groups, and as a result, I have had a great deal of contact with
creationist thinking in the last several years or so. It cannot be
overemphasized that creationists are not creationist because the scientific
evidence seems to them to lean toward it. They are creationist because they feel
the Bible teaches it. As long as the scriptures seem to them to cry creationism,
no amount of scientific evidence will do, however overwhelming it may be. Until
the Biblical side of this controversy is laid to rest once and for all,
there will be a creationist movement battling (and often winning) for equal time
in the classroom and public forum. The articles in issues XII and XIII were
excellent and addressed many issues, but a great deal more needs to be dealt
with, including for instance, the inerrancy doctrine that underlies much of
creationist philosophy.

Thank you again for your time and effort, and for
your excellent periodical.

Scott Church

Rabbi Greenspahn's report on
recent biblical scholarship gives the impression that the main effort Jewish
scholars are intent on is justifying their claims to eternal verities
against those of Christian scholars and that at best they are seeking areas of
common ground, but not necessarily objective, believable truth.

"The
question," he says, "is not whether the Bible is true or false, but rather, what
kind of truth it seeks to convey." I would like to suggest, rather, that the
question is whether the Bible is of "divine" or fallible mortal origin, and what
its inconsistencies, contradictions, errors, omissions and absurdities indicate
about the author(s) and what kind of truth they were trying to
convey.

Sophistical and talmudical efforts to explain away the untenable
can, if extrapolated, have us take the Iliad and Odyssey as gospel. And, I ask, "Why not, indeed?"

The idea that his fellow
scholars and he are now in a position to reiterate the main theses with which
they began (whatever these were), and that new conclusions are in no way
threatening their religious faith, makes it appear that, like Omar Khayam, "they
went out the self-same door through which they came." True faith facing new
facts and remaining untouched appears to be a feat of
doggedness.

Nevertheless, some concession to reality is noted in his
statement: ". . . its [the Bible's] descriptions of creation must be understood in
light of the differing points of view which were prevalent in its own time." If
we keep in mind that "its own
time" was the Bronze Age, we can perhaps ask ourselves how long we ought to
continue to be imposed upon by these quaint, pre-literate notions, very few of
which are relevant to our own, evolved, society.

Dorothy S.
Klein

- page 48 -

Mr. Sillman's letter in the last issue (no. XIII) regarding his
discovery of a Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur in an Australian creationist
paperback is surprising but should not be alarming. The Catholic Church
certainly does not endorse creationism. This is clearly attested by reference to
the concluding statement of the historic conference of paleontologists,
geneticists, and molecular biologists which met from May 24th to May 27th, 1982,
at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican Gardens. After working
together under the direction of Carlos Chagas, Brazilian neurophysiologist and
scientific advisor to Pope John Paul II, the group concluded that:

"We
freely acknowledge that there is room for differences of opinion on such
problems as species formation and the mechanisms of evolutionary change.
Nevertheless, we are convinced that masses of evidence render the application of
the concept of evolution to man and other primates beyond serious
dispute."

Also, see the article concerning this conference in the
Sept./Oct., 1982 issue of Oceans (p. 72). Finally, at least since 1977,
the Catholic Almanac, published by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., has included
statements within the glossary explanation of evolution which emphasize the
confirmation of evolution through scientific evidence while maintaining the
doctrine of special creation of the human soul. (p. 362, 1977
ed.)

The Nihil Obstat ("Nothing stands in the way") is issued by the
church censor and merely states that nothing contained within the text is
explicitly inimical or in violation of Catholic teaching. The Imprimatur ("Let
it be printed") is issued by the bishop as an authorization. The unfortunate
thing about these seals is that they are easily taken as an approval. They
should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement whether in regards to the
author's viewpoint or his manner of handling his subject.

The important
thing to remember as far as the Catholic Church is concerned with evolution is
the distinction between body and soul. Officially, the immediate creation of the
human soul by God is a point of doctrine not open to question. The body, on the
other hand. . . .

David J. Walling

- page 49 -

This is in response to Jonathan
Young's letter in Issue XIII in which he argues that I redefine "catastrophist."
I redefine nothing."Early in the 19th century, when the science of geology was
in its infancy, the words
"diluvialist," "catastrophist," and "uniformitarian" had reasonably well-defined
meanings. As I pointed out in my article, the diluvialist school, whose most
important members were Adam Sedgwick and William Buckland, quickly went the way
of the dodo, abandoned even by its founders. In the strictest sense, so did 19th
century uniformitarianism and catastrophism.

Science evolves. When we call
modern geologists uniformitarians we do not mean that they hold the same views
as their 19th century predecessors. We mean that they carry on the scientific
tradition founded by 19th century uniformitarians. While the uniformitarian
tradition has largely triumphed, there have always been geologists like Derek
Ager who maintained that violent events played an important part in geologic
history. Ager is a catastrophist in much the same sense that most modern
geologists are uniformitarians.

But the 19th century diluvialists,
catastrophists, and uniformitarians were subjected to vociferous and sometimes
vitriolic criticism by another group, the "Scriptural" or "Mosaic" geologists.
This latter tradition is yet alive, and as well as it ever was. Unlike modern
uniformitarianism and catastrophism, the tradition of Scriptural Geology has
hardly evolved at all. Modern scientific creationism is still based on a literal
interpretation of the King James Bible.

Words, like scientific traditions,
evolve. Today "catastrophism" is sometimes used in a broad, nonhistorical sense
which might include Henry Morris's Flood Geology. But when creationists try to
equate this modern usage with the historical meaning, it is a bit like arguing
that orthodox geologists belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. I will let readers
judge whether their equivocation proceeds from ignorance or guile.